~ Savannah, 1895 Inn Bed & Breakfast

This has to be one of our favorite places we have ever stayed. Not only is it beautifully decorated, but Ed is a fabulous cook! Food is one of the top things we look for in a bed & breakfast after the other important things.



We only began staying at Bed & Breakfast a few years ago after hearing good reports from friends like Rhoda. This particular one was rated high on tripadvisor and an ol' internet friend Deb had stayed there, too. There is no parking except in front of the these old houses. But that didn't seem to a problem. And the fire station is directly across the street. That made me want to run. But we never heard a siren of any kind in the 3 days were in Savannah.

The owners have a fantastic collection of art and antiques. This is the foyer.

Beautiful , comfortable area for sitting and relaxing & wine and cheese in the evening.


Every morning Ed has this table set so beautifully with old china and crystal. As lovely as it is, the food still stands out as the best thing to check out!
(The business was for sale, so someone else might be cooking now.)

You can visit their website here. 1895 Inn, Bed & Breakfast.

We stayed in ...
"The Sovereign Room, at the top, front of the house, has a large arched window with a view of the spires of the Cathedral of St. John the Baptist. A massive four-poster canopy bed welcomes you to this terra-cotta colored room with rich gold and cream fabrics. An oriental carpet is framed by the original heart-pine floors; and antique oriental water colors, Japanese wood-block prints, and Japanese scrolls from Kyoto cover the walls. The Sovereign Room - with its luxurious bathroom with extra-long soaking tub."
It has the largest bathroom in the house!

I'm looking through pictures that might be of interest to you all.
See Ya' Soon!

~ Do You Lean to the Left or to the Right?

Sometimes it's hard to tell which way someone really does lean, to the Left or to the Right. The fabulous blue color of the shutters is what first drew my attention. Then we noticed the incredible leaning. This is what can still be seen today of the aftermath of the earthquake of 1886 that hit Charleston. So which one is leaning?

In the second picture you can see the distance between the two houses at the bottom and then at the top! And there are people living in both houses. Which by the way are both leaning some.

I've been thinking about painting my shutters black again for a while now. Isn't this old home beautiful. Something so special about a yellow house.

I don't know how you can be homesick for some place where you don't actually live. But Charleston and Savannah are calling out to me again. It should be time to go somewhere else, I know. But I just want to go walk around the cities again. We need a vacation. So we'll see if we wind up there.

Some people say they just don't understand why I would want to go to the same places again. But those who have been there, over and over again, understand.

See ya' soon!

~ Happy Friday! Shall We Dance? (Doggie Dancin')

At the end of a busy week, don't you just want to dance? Or have a really good laugh?

You know not a single one of you very sweet and kind souls asked if I had seen "Marley & Me" before we got Cody Puppy who as you know is a Yellow (White) Lab Mix. Sweet Puppy (most of the time) is in doggie school, or rather Darling Daughter and I are, and Cody goes along to get treats. He's such a little smarty, he has learned everything very quickly and just does it all so we give him some treats. Now who is training whom?

The second or third class as I was asking the trainer a question, he asked me one. Have you seen Marley & Me? Well, that's what you've got. And he'll be that way for the first 2 or 3 years. After that, he'll be the best dog in the world. We still love him bunches, but wouldn't leave him a lone with a sofa that's for sure.

Today as I was doing my end of the "high-five" trick, I remembered this video I had seen a while back. See if you can just sit without wanting to dance along.



(I changed the picture to a link that takes you to YouTube. I think the embedded video slowed down the page loading.)

Enjoy, See Ya' Soon!

~ A Lovely Day For An Art Show

Sunday was such a beautiful day to stroll in downtown Winter Park. At least it might have been if not for the 100,000 other people walking in the same space. That could only mean one thing, it was time for the annual Winter Part Sidewalk Art Show which draws up to 200,00 plus in the three day show time. This is one of the best and most difficult to get into art shows in the country. Sweet Hubby has shown here a few times and is talking about doing it again once he retires at the end of the year. Maybe he doesn't really remember how much work it is.

The flower paintings by artist Michael Kuseske were absolutely beautiful.

I haven't resized, or hardly looked to see what pictures I took because I've been sick with a mean cold. The first in many years, so that was the good news. Gee, I can't remember the last time I was this sick! My company who is arriving on Friday will definitely be seeing dust bunnies, now newly manufactured to include white puppy hair. But it's my sis, so she won't really care.

See ya' soon.

~ Spunky Victorian Girls

When I look at the faces of Izabella and Emily Grace with that darling touch of spunk, I image it is their determination to remain true to their own Soul Whisperings as the grew up. We often see very stern and sad faces on the women of this time. I always hope that some of them are actually happy people, maybe even happily married, and their clothing is just too tight and uncomfortable! And that is what makes their faces appear not so happy.

Yes, she did bite the ear of her large white chocolate bunny.
And she would do it again.

There have been some wonderful old friends of Izabella asking if she will have her portrait available as a cabinet card for Easter. Yes she will! Thanks for asking.

Happy St. Patrick's Day!
We celebrate by eating.. what else but chocolate!
Irish on both sides of the family,
and I almost forgot.

See ya' soon!

~ Thankful Thursday

Cara, the fabric in the Dining Room is by Robert Allen. I don't have the name handy anymore. But I'll try to find it. You can see all of his fabrics in swatches at robertallen.com There are a lot to look at! So I didn't find it when I took a quick look.
It is a beautiful fabric, and I still really love it.

Kathy, yes the porch floor is still painted the same. It might have some changes in the near future. But it will be pretty much the same. There are just a few changes I want to make. It will pretty much stay the same though. Right now the furniture is still piled on top of each other, and it needs some attention. It' on my list.

It's tough not to be thankful when you walk outside and it is this perfect. Clear skies, warm, and just plain fabulous. That's OK, you can rub it in when we are running into the air conditioned spaces as it heats up very shortly.

I finally purchased a car yesterday. A quite sensible one again, another Camry. Although I've looked half-heartedly for a couple of years, I had no choice this time. My sister is flying down to pick up my old Camry for her granddaughter. This makes me happy because I could give them a great deal, and someone will appreciate that it only has 45k miles on. A little ol' lady must have driven it. I think the mindset of the country had me a bit frozen about spending money.

Funny that the prices have actually gone up since I started looking semi-earnestly in Sept. Not the same incentives to the dealers from the company as before. I did however get it for that same lower price, but at a different dealer, using my 6 month old quote from dealer #1. Dealer number 2 met the quote even though the first one said they no longer could. So of course I'm thankful that it didn't cost me more.

So a little tip for car buying is to save all your notes and quotes when you are looking. One offer might turn out to the best one, even if you don't use it right away. The rebates change almost every month, so sometimes they won't honor what they quoted a month earlier.

Also take your camera! I took pictures of the car I wanted, the wheels, interior, etc. And this gave me the proof of what I wanted. It wasn't a big deal, because I never buy a bunch of stuff loaded on a car anyway. We are simple people with not much need to try to impress.

I knew someone must have found a table and chairs like Sweet Daughter's at a yard sale or flea market for a lot less. For some reason those kinds of bargains are much harder to find here. And I'm very happy for you. I can truthfully say that even though I paid a little over $100 more than Debra, I am still so thankful that I found it at that price. It's probably more likely that you really good bargain hunters are willing to go to yard sales, and I don't. So you deserve the better deals.

I love taking pictures at these big markets, because it is impossible to remember everything you see. And I totally forgot about this area and had intended to come back that way and look more closely. Looks like a few good things just waiting.

Sweet Hubby found this frame. Actually the painting is a very good quality original. I'm sure it is not a listed artist, but I'll find something to do with it.
The frame is going to be painted white. I think it will be so pretty in a soft white.

We also finally made it over to the Barn & Stable in Lake Alfred. My good friend Kim
of Daisy Cottage, talked about this wonderful antiques store years and years ago, but we just never got around to going. We were so surprised! For this area, the prices were exceptional. Sweet Hubby had his truck and was so ready to load it up, but I didn't find anything completely perfect that we really needed. We will be going back though!

If you travel to the middle of FL and stop by the Barn, you might want to drive a couple of miles into the town and have lunch at the Lake Alfred Cafe. Excellent food.
We highly recommend dessert as well. Like the triple chocolate cake and carrot cake. But like grandma should have made! I know the Barn has a tea room where a lot of people eat, but if you are in the mood, drive a little bit down the road.

Thank you for stopping by & for your kind comments.
See ya' soon!

~ Love of Wrought Iron & White Furniture

At the end of one of the last rows, late in the day, on the way to the car, at last I found something that was on my list of treasures I was searching for. A wrought iron table and chairs. The price was much better than all the ones in stores or shops I had seen for the several years I've been considering it getting one. Yes, I know some people find this type of thing at garage sales and flea markets all the time. It's not that easy here. The price was good, but I asked the guy his best price. Then we loaded it in the truck. I had to find something to put in that truck since Sweet Husband told me a few times ..... we've got the truck this time, get something big! It's a small truck, so this filled up the whole bed.

We headed back to town and went right over to Sweet Daughter's house to give it to her. The rest of the week while we were out treasure hunting, I found a couple more sets, all were much higher priced. So I was very happy I grabbed it while I could. However, I was kicking myself for not getting another one that they also had for sale. It would have been a perfect for doing art work on the porch. But Sweet Daughter isn't giving hers back.

On my long to-do list is to accomplish a little decorating for her porch. It's not at the top of her list yet. There is still many more things she wants to do like new counter tops and hardware in the kitchen and a new backyard patio with pavers, and grass out there, too. We'll get there.

I'm still wondering if I could have found a place for this. Love the lines of this piece, and they painted their furniture really well. This will be a vendor I'll look for again.

New life for old furniture with a warm white finish, isn't it beautiful? And the love of old, or new wrought iron, makes you long for a cool summer night doesn't it? Me, too. But we don't have "cool" summer nights!

I'm off car shopping today. Not all that much fun, but necessary.
See ya' soon!

~ Paintings & Black Glaze Cabinets, Answers to ??s

I forget to answer questions just because I forget, not because I don't mean to get back to you. So here is one old one and one new one answered.

The first question is about the picture which appeared in this post.
Antiquing White Technique for Cabinets and Furniture.

The painting in this picture, and many of the ones you see throughout our home pictures that I post are by Sweet Hubby. He works in watercolors. Some of his work is available on Etsy as prints. Some time soon, I hope he will do some smaller original pieces for his shop, too.

Thanks so much for asking about them. I love his work so much, and feel very lucky to have such wonderful original paintings in our home.

Black Glaze on Wood Cabinets, Kitchen

Quite a while ago, someone asked if you could do the black glaze technique shown above on newer "finished" cabinets. Most likely yes! The pigment in black paint is so concentrated in most paints, that it will indeed stain the area you are wanting to highlight. You just have to be careful that you don't let it sit too long on an area where you do not want the black to be. Every so often the finish may be so "hard" that it won't take the paint. But that is not often.

For those not so pretty oak cabinets this will change them a lot. You can do the black glaze or the white. Either way, they will be greatly improved. I've had lots of people do this who had never done anything like it before, and every one of them did a fantastic job and loved it when they were done.

See Y'All Soon!

~ Junk to Treasures

Junk waiting be made into Treasures.

Junk made into Treasures.

Great Baskets.

Just Treasures.

See ya' soon.

~ Yes... No.... Yes.... No

After a whole week of driving all over this place, I don't have a lot to show for it. But it was fun anyway. We went to places where we had been before and discovered some new ones.

Yes, I did love this green vintage glass ware. But I talked myself out of starting a new love affair with them, so....

No I did not get any of it. But I snapped a picture in case I "need" some later.

Yes, there were some fabulous old bottles in a couple of booths.
This guy had so many, so no....

I did not buy this many. I just added a few to my growing little box of goodies like this.

There were only a few vendors who had really great old hardware. This lady was very busy, and had one of the best selections of old junk/treasures. No....

I did not get anything here.
Although a great selection, I didn't need
anything that day

As we have gone out everyday looking, I again realized that the prices at the Extravaganza are often the best we find. If it was still going on this weekend, I might have wandered back up the road to look around some more.

And Yes! it was a great week with just the two of us tripping around in the truck looking for that special treasures. Sweet Hubby is back to work on Monday, but it was fun vacation, even though we "stayed at home."

Have a Wonderful Weekend!
See ya' soon.

~ Renninger's Extravaganza, Feb 2009

It was a beautiful crisp, cool day as we meandered through the rows filled with a wonderful diversity of goods ranging from treasures to junk. As far as you could see, there were tables and tents stretching on and on. It seemed that there were as many sellers this time as usual, but many said sales were down from years before.

We had a short list of things that we were hoping to find but didn't really find those. We were lucky to find a few others things though. I'm almost wishing that we had returned on Sunday to see if you missed any of the rows.

These are a few of the fabulous things that we really liked, but left for the next person.

The antique ceiling tins were huge. Where would we put them? I couldn't think of any place, but Sweet Hubby thought we should get one anyway. It was tough to walk away. His logic was we finally remembered to bring the truck, we should at least get something big. With those gorgeous fleur de lis designs, they were stunning.

I saw how easy it was to be fooled by metal and iron that was new but had been left outside for a while. Several vendors were selling rusty but new things. It appeared that a few people were fooled. I hope they just didn't care that the same items came from Michael's or Marshall's for half the price before they had been quickly rusted.

This iron was the real thing though. So beautiful with its amazing rusting, aged patina.

We are hitting every antique and pre-owned, and thrifty store this week that we can find, looking for some old furniture pieces to use for storage. So far not much luck. Maybe the next trip out will find a treasure.

See ya' soon!

~ Thankful Thursday, Decorating - Where to Begin

One Good Painting, a lovely Frame,
and fabulous Raku Pottery.
(Painting by Sweet Hubby,
Raku from Winter Park Art Show,
Frame from a Mirror at Ross.)

Thankful Thursday is a funny title because it seems an odd time of the week to stop for a moment and be quiet and reflective. That's why I like it, a good reminder.

Things to start with. Art. Plain and simple. Good art, real art, not something that came from Target. I totally understand that it's not cheap to do this. But there is nothing that compares to real art, except a handwoven rug, or a fine antique.

Start with as close to an empty room as possible. Add the one or two special things that you have, the art, a rug or an antique. Let it sit. For a day or so. Then decide not only what do you need the room to function as (yes, I know that's important) but how to build the room around your treasures. It gives you fresh perspective.

If you have one good painting, who cares if the sofa came from a thrift shop. It can be recovered. Wonderful art is a luxury I know. But it will last forever, you don't toss it out like a worn out sofa.


We were really surprised the last few art shows that we visited how much the prices had increased. Next month is one of the largest and best in the US that is held nearby. Sweet Hubby has shown in this one. The high quality is worth the day of viewing. About 150,000 people show up, to look, and hopefully to buy since many of the artists rely on art shows for their total incomes.

A setting like the one above in the first picture could be expensive on a modest budget. But you can find original art for any budget. I know how lucky I am that Sweet Hubby has such an amazing talent and so in every room we can have original art. He also loves exploring for antique treasures with me so we have a few of those, too. Finding art is like anything else worthwhile, it might take some effort to go out and hunt. Check out art shows, and places like Etsy. At most large and quality art shows, they have a student section. This is a fabulous way to have original art from students who may be exceptionally good.

The raku pottery was one of those special gifts, not an everyday expenditure. What I love the best about it is not just the outstanding quality, but that it reminds me of the wonderful day we had together at the art show hoping to find one special something, and then deciding on these together. Actually there is another large vase. This one was my favorite, and the other one was Sweet Hubby's. Then we did a little bargaining and we got the small third piece for free. Good art makes a room special!



Framing can be so expensive. For this size painting, with comparable molding, the price was over $300. Instead I find mirrors in ornate frames at Ross, Home Goods, and Marshall's and remove the mirror. The frames then costs $60 to $100. Quite a savings. Of course sometimes you get very lucky and find old frames at thrift shops, consignment shops or garage sales. I'm working on a couple of frames that we found a couple of weeks ago at a consignment shop. One more thing on that long to-do list.

See ya' soon.